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GURPS Hammer
GURPS Hammer
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2. New Skills
3. Race Packages
5. General Conversions
6. Sorcerous Magicks
7. Clerical Magicks
1. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
FATE 10 POINTS/LEVEL
Your deity takes an interest in your welfare and may have marked you to do
something important. If you are in difficulty and in danger of not fulfilling your
destiny then your deity may intervene in worldly affairs and set things back on
track. In most cases this means preventing your death but sometimes this may
mean some less tangible intervention. If you rely to much on fate you may find
your deity will tire of pulling your fat from the fire and just let you fail. For each
level of fate you buy your deity will intervene once in your favour. When this
intervention takes place this advantage should be reduced by one level (or
removed). The maximum amount of fate that can be taken is 3 levels. Dwarves
may only take 2 levels and Elves can only take a single level of fate.
You have more stamina than a normal person with your HT. Fatigue points are
initially equal to ST, so a character with ST 11 could buy his fatigue point total up
to 13. This would be written as ST 11/13. Contests of ST and anything else
involving tests of strength would still be made against a strength of 11. Only
fatigue is subtracted from 13. You may only buy 4 extra fatigue points.
You can take more damage than a normal person with your HT. Hit points are
initially equal to HT, so a character with HT 11 could buy his hit point total up to
13 or even 16. This would be written as HT 11/16. Contests of HT, resistance’s,
calculation of unconsciousness and survival rolls, and anything else involving HT
would still be made against health of 11. Only damage is subtracted from 16. You
may only buy 5 extra hit points.
MUTATION - MINOR -20 POINTS
You have a minor mutation. This doesn’t affect your life much except if certain
authorities (or just common people) knew of your condition then you might be
killed out of hand or be forced into exile. The mutation will usually be easy
enough to hide but you must be careful when bathing or being searched.
You have a major mutation and it can’t be hidden. It is impossible for you to lead
a normal life. You are forced to skulk from farm to farm stealing food and running
from Witch-hunters. It takes all your will not to devolve into a slobbering monster
which feeds on anything, even human flesh. Every month of play you should roll
against your will. If you fail you must reduce your IQ by 1.
You have less stamina than a normal person with your HT. Fatigue points are
initially equal to ST, so a character with ST 11 could reduce his fatigue point total
to 9. This would be written as ST 11/9. Contests of ST and anything else
involving tests of strength would still be made against a strength of 11. Only
fatigue is subtracted from 9. You may only reduce fatigue points by 4.
You can take less damage than a normal person with your HT. Hit points are
initially equal to HT, so a character with HT 10 could reduce his hit point total to
8. This would be written as HT 10/8. Contests of HT, resistance’s, calculation of
unconsciousness and survival rolls, and anything else involving HT would still be
made against health of 10. Only damage is subtracted from 8. You may only
reduce hit points by 5.
Your mind and body have an innate feel for fabric of the Warp. You feel or act no
differently than anyone else like you but you will excel as a cleric or a wizard.
Characters without this advantage can learn to cast or ‘channel’ spells but have a
-2 penalty to any of their magical skills. Only humans and elves may take this
advantage.
The following advantages and disadvantages are not used or are restricted in
GURPS-Hammer:
Magical Aptitude 1,2, and 3: These are superseded by ‘Warp Resonance’ and
the GURPS-Hammer magic system.
The following skills are specific to the Warhammer World and are converted for
GURPS use. In Warhammer, possessing a skill usually means that a character can
automatically succeed in tasks involving that skill. In this conversion the
characters must roll against their skill to see if they can take advantage of their
knowledge or abilities. The Channelling skill is completely new to Warhammer
and GURPS. It is used by clerics and I believe it will be a more satisfactory way of
handling divine magic. See the Clerical Magicks section for more details.
BEGGING (MENTAL/EASY) IQ - 4
On a successful roll against this skill a character receives 3D6 pennies per hour.
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 47).
BRIBERY (MENTAL/AVERAGE) IQ - 4
On a successful roll against this skill a character may bribe another character if
the target character fails a will roll. The GM should apply modifiers where
appropriate. See Warhammer Rule Book (page 47).
Cult Lore is the knowledge of a particular religious cult. This knowledge includes
how cult members should behave, what rituals exist, and what the strictures are.
At skill level 12 a character will know about all petty magic spells allowed by the
cult’s deity. At skill level 13 a character will know about all level 1 spells allowed
by the cult’s deity. This continues up to level 16 where a character will know
about all level 4 spells allowed by the cult’s deity.
DEMON LORE (MENTAL/VERY HARD) NO DEFAULT
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 291). Characters must choose a dialect.
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 291). Characters must choose a dialect.
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 53). Note that this skill can only be taken by
characters with the Warp Resonance advantage. Characters should roll against
the skill level to see if they can detect any magical creatures, or individuals with
the Warp Resonance advantage . It is impossible to detect non-magical creatures
that don’t have Warp Resonance unless they happen to be currently working
magic.
MIME (PHYSICAL/EASY) DX - 5
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 53).
MIMIC (PHYSICAL/HARD) DX - 5
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 53). Roll against skill to see if a character can
mimic a voice. Impose penalties if the character has not heard the voice for a
long time or has only heard the voice once or twice.
NUMISMATICS (MENTAL/AVERAGE) IQ - 4
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 54).
VENTRILOQUISM (PHYSICAL/HARD) DX - 5
See Warhammer Rule Book (page 58).
3. RACE PACKAGES
HUMANS
Description P Comments
o
i
n
t
s
Fate, +3 3 Optional
0
Language - Old Worlder 0 Mandatory
Total 3
0
WOOD ELVES
Wood Elves start with the following advantages, disadvantages and skills:
Description P Comments
o
i
n
t
s
Acute Vision, +2 4 Optional
Alertness, +2 1 Optional
0
Appearance - Attractive 5 Optional
Fate, +1 1 Optional (+1
0 Max)
Infravision 1 Mandatory
5
Honesty - Optional
1
0
Intolerant of Dwarves - Optional
5
Laziness - Optional
1
0
Reduced Hit Points, -1 - Optional
5
Bow 4 Optional
Language - Old Worlder 1 Mandatory
Language - Elthárin 0 Mandatory
Survival - Forest 1 Optional
ST - 1, DX + 1, IQ + 1 1 Mandatory
0
Total 3
0
DWARVES
Description P Comments
o
i
n
t
s
Fate, +2 2 Optional (+2
0 Max)
Increased Hit Points, +1 5 Optional
Infravision 1 Mandatory
5
Strong Will, +2 8 Optional
Appearance - - Optional
Unattractive 5
Bad Temper - Optional
1
0
Dislikes Open Areas - Optional
1
Hatred of Goblinoids - Optional
1
0
Intolerant of Elves - Optional
5
Reduced Movement, -1 - Mandatory
5
Blacksmith, 4 Optional
Language - Old Worlder 1 Mandatory
Language - Dwarven 0 Mandatory
Mining 2 Optional
ST + 1, DX -1, HT + 1 1 Mandatory
0
Total 3
0
HALFLINGS
In the Warhammer world Guilds are very prominent. This makes it very difficult
for characters to become trained in a very wide variety of skills or even trained
extensively in a very small range of skills. Almost all training you receive will
come from your parents or from some sort of apprenticeship. While it is possible
to learn skills not taught in your characters profession, it is difficult unless you
have the luxury of paying for your tuition. Gaining employment in a field is also
difficult if you don’t have all the prerequisite skills. Not because you don’t have
the skills to do the job but because the Guild concerned won’t let you practice
until you hold some sort of certificate of proficiency. To gain the certificate you
will need to meet all the skill requirements of the Guild. For example, if Clem
Shirestock has the Carpentry skill then he will not be able to work as a Carpenter
until he has joined a Guild and learnt all the skills that Carpenters must know
(even though he could conceivably get by with just the Carpentry skill).
So how does this affect how you create characters? Well, firstly, you need to
select a career or profession. There is a list in the Warhammer Rule book but
these are by no means exhaustive. Feel free to ask the GM about possible new
careers. Each career will contain a list of skills required. Your character should
have all of those skills to at least level 12 (for initial careers). Apart from these
restrictions you may spend points as you wish. If you have enough points you can
create a character with two or more careers or professions.
Characters must have at least one career because if they don’t then gaining work
becomes very difficult. Guilds have enough power to make life difficult for
individuals who persist in plying their trade without permission. Characters that
have a career or profession will usually have some way of proving they belong to
a guild. These usually come in the form of references given to them after
completing an apprenticeship. The Guild Knowledge skill should be taken by all
characters who are members of a Guild. This skill improves a character’s chances
of gaining employment. For some Guilds (e.g. the Thieves Guild) the ownership of
this knowledge is the only way to tell if a person is a member or not.
Remember that your career must match any advantages or disadvantages your
character has. Your average beggar is unlikely to have any status advantages at
all. Gaining skills after your character is created may also prove difficult
depending on what skills you wish to learn. Teaching yourself is always possible
but in some cases the knowledge you want to learn is jealously guarded by a
Guild. Guilds try to maintain their monopoly on their particular craft so they are
unlikely to teach anyone but loyal Guild members. If you want to learn particular
skills later on then be aware that the knowledge may be hard to come by
(especially if you can make money from it!).
You can create a character without a career if you wish. However, you must also
take the Poor: Struggling disadvantage since your character finds work hard to
find even if you are highly skilled (employers hiring non-Guild workers are subject
to reprisals from the Guild).
There are some careers which are not governed by Guilds but these are few and
tend to be careers where characters work for themselves. Skill sets for these
types of characters are largely based on common sense. However, your
character must be able to earn at least the average wage or the GM will force
you to take the Poor: Struggling disadvantage. Skill sets for common self
employed careers can be found in the Warhammer rule book.
OTHER RESTRICTIONS
Since Warhammer characters are all assumed to have basic weapon skills we
need to translate this through for GURPS-Hammer. These guidelines should be
followed when creating characters:
·1 Warrior type characters should know at least 2 hand weapon skills, and
at least 1 ranged weapon skill (e.g. Bow). They are likely to have the Shield
skill.
·2 Ranger type characters should know at least Bow and one hand-weapon
skill.
·3 Rogue type characters should know at least the Knife and Stealth skills.
LOOKING FORWARD
Your character’s initial career is usually not glamorous but it does gives your
character some skills that may be useful. It is assumed that your character has
become fed-up or bored with their ordinary life and seeks excitement and fortune
by travelling, seeking treasure, causing trouble, and finding trouble. The
experience gained and the opportunities for training which become available will
inevitably drive your characters development toward better careers.
Your character will probably never work in her old career unless she needs money
between adventures. While adventuring she may come across opportunities to
learn other more exciting careers. Your initial career does matter here. Very few
wizards will take on an illiterate, ignorant, sub-10 IQ, warrior as an apprentice.
Those who do will ask the warrior to pay (a lot) for wasting their time on someone
who will make for a demanding student. The reverse is true too. Which
mercenary troop would take on and train an undeveloped weed who doesn’t
know the first thing about swinging a sword?
5. GENERAL CONVERSIONS
This section will mostly be of use to GMs only. Players may find it useful if their
GM tells them to roll a Cool test and wonder why their character needs to impress
a Greater Daemon.
CHARACTERISTIC TESTS
Weapon Skill: Roll against the skill level of the weapon used
Ballistic Skill: Roll against the skill level of the ranged weapon used
Strength: Roll against ST
Toughness: Roll against HT
Initiative: Sense Roll
Dexterity: Roll against DX
Leadership: Reaction Roll
Intelligence: Roll against IQ
Cool: Fright Check (no modifiers)
Will Power: Will Roll
Fellowship: Reaction Roll
STANDARD TESTS
Standard Tests map to GURPS tests in a more consistent way. So you should use
these tests where possible.
CURRENCY CONVERSIONS
This area is fraught with problems. The Warhammer world guide is pretty good
and the availability rules are excellent but finding an easy currency conversion is
difficult when armour costs more than a sword in Warhammer and a sword costs
more than armour in GURPS. Using the relative costs of tavern meals a simple
conversion metric we end up with a GURPS farthing being equal to a tenth of a
Warhammer Gold Crown. Where possible use the prices (and weights) from the
GURPS rule book (divide the price by 10 to determine how many Gold Crowns it
will cost). Prices for items not mentioned in the GURPS rule book will not need to
be corrected, just use them as is. The conversions are:
Using the conversions above we can calculate that characters receive a starting
wealth of 100 Gold Crowns.
CHARACTER CONVERSIONS
Use the following procedure as a basis for converting WFRP characters into
GURPS characters:
WFRP S or T GURPS
Characteristic ST or HT
Characte
ristic
10 30
9 25
8 21
7 18
6 15
5 13
4 11
3 10
2 9
1 8
Given enough training and time anyone can learn to cast spells. However, unless
the character has an innate ‘sense’ of the warp such castings are low powered
and modest. This innate ‘sense’ is called Warp Resonance. A character with this
advantage can eventually cast very powerful spells. For reasons unknown,
Dwarves and Halflings have never been known to have any kind of Warp
Resonance.
Sorcerors or wizards need two types of skills in orders to cast spells. Firstly they
need to know at least one type of casting lore. Casting lore is knowledge used to
put spells into effect. Secondly, they will need to know at least one spell.
CASTING LORE
Casting lore is the name for a skill that must be learnt in order to cast spells. The
type of casting lore employed when casting a spell usually affects the time to
cast and the energy cost of such spells. Experienced wizards will know several
types of casting lore and can cast spells at a fraction of the cost of an apprentice.
The least experienced wizards will typically know only one or two types of casting
lore.
In the Empire, the teaching of casting lore is restricted by the Guild of Sorcerous
Magicks. Students of magick will only be taught new and more powerful casting
lore when they can prove their mastery of the lore they already know. This is not
just a guild mechanism for monopolising magical knowledge either. Mastery of a
greater casting lore often requires mastery of all elements of a lesser casting
lore.
The type of casting known by a wizard affects the speed, cost and difficulty of
casting spells. The highest known casting lore is 12 times as efficient as the
lowest casting lore but it makes spells more difficult to cast.
SPELLS
A spell is a sequence of actions that cause a magical effect. Spells have the
following attributes:
Description: What the spell does and how it affects the world.
Range: The optimal range for the spell. Casting the spell at targets beyond the
range will increase the cost of the spell dramatically.
Difficulty: A modifier to the casters skill in the spell.
Casting Cost: The base energy cost of the spell in fatigue or health points.
Spells are ‘powered’ by the casters own strength. If the cost of the spell is 1 then
the caster will have to expend 1 fatigue or health point to power the spell.
Casting Time: How long the spell takes to cast.
Duration: How long the spell effects last.
Maintenance Cost: The energy cost to extend the spell past it’s given duration.
Some spells cannot be extended.
Spells are treated as a regular skill. Each spell a character has learned will have
an associated skill level. This is the base spell level. When the spell is cast this
skill will be modified depending on the spell and the casting lore used. The
teaching of spells is not as closely guarded as the teaching of Casting Lore. This
is mainly because the most powerful spells require more power than lower
Casting Lore can provide. There have been reports of curious apprentices
successfully casting spells meant for Higher Casting Lore and almost killing
themselves in the process.
CASTING SPELLS
When casting a spell a character must specify the spell to cast, the casting lore
to be employed, and the target of the spell. The caster should then determine
how long the spell will take to cast, the difficulty level, and the energy cost. The
character must then concentrate for the required casting time. After the required
period the energy points are removed and a single roll performed to see if the
spell was performed successfully. This roll is made against the casters modified
skill level for the spell cast. The modified skill level can never be higher than the
characters skill level for the casting lore used. Normal failures do nothing but the
energy for the spell is still used. Critical failures cause double the energy to be
spent.
Example: Clem ShireStock, a Wizard’s Apprentice, is about to cast the Open spell. The base casting
time is 1 second and the base casting cost is 1. He knows the Open spell to level 14 and knows
Apprentice Casting Lore to level 12. Apprentice Casting Lore triples the time and cost of the spell so
Clem must spend six seconds concentrating. At the end of 6 seconds he spends 6 points of fatigue
and rolls against his modified skill level. His skill level in the spell is 14 and he gets a +1 bonus but
he only knows his casting lore to level 12. So he must roll against 12 for successful casting of the
spell.
Casters may extend the range of a spell in the following way. To increase the
range by 50% the base spell cost is increased by 1 point. Therefore, to double the
range costs 2 points extra. Tripling the range costs 4 points extra on so on. This
cost is incurred before calculating the multiplier for the casting lore used. If a
caster unknowingly chooses a target outside the spell range they may use more
energy than expected.
Casters can call on fatigue or hits to power spells. However, when hits are used
there is a penalty to casting equal to the number of hits about to be taken.
When a spell is successfully cast it occurs as the very first event in the casters
next turn. For example, a 3 seconds spell cast during turns 1,2, and 3 will take
effect at the very start of turn 4.
If the caster is hurt, knocked down, forced to use an active defence, or otherwise
distracted while concentrating, he must make a (Will - 3) roll to maintain his
casting. A failed roll means he must start over. If he is injured while concentrating
then the effective skill level for the spell is reduced by the amount of hits he
suffered.
This section describes how the spells in the Warhammer rule book should be
modified to work with GURPS-Hammer. There are some general rules that should
be followed:
In addition to the spells in the Warhammer rule book there are the following new
spells:
Dispel
College: Battle Magic
Description: Cancels the effects of a spell cast by another spellcaster. The
other spellcaster cannot resist the dispelling. This spell may be attempted by
any caster against any spell. However, apprentices will be unlikely to dispel
spells cast by experienced wizards.
Casting Cost: The base cost of the spell to dispel.
Range: 48 yards
Difficulty: The difficulty of the spell to dispel.
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 2 seconds
7. CLERICAL MAGICKS
GURPS-Hammer uses a completely new (and untried) system for clerical magic. It
is based on the assumption that clerics never have any knowledge about casting
spells. They just know how to call for their deity’s aid and how to make it easier
for the deity to provide the aid.
Technically, clerics don’t cast spells. They ask their deity to cast the spell through
them. The cleric provides a ‘conduit’ and also provides the energy for the spell.
Deities can effect magical spells from their plane of existence without the help of
a cleric, it just happens to be very expensive for them to do so. Using a cleric to
perform minor castings (by deitific standards) is a much easier way to exert
control on the physical world. The relationship between cleric and deity is
symbiotic. The cleric providing the deity with influence in human affairs and the
deity providing the cleric with magical power in the same league as wizards.
Compared with sorcerous magic, clerical magic is just as powerful but always
requires more time to bring into being. The increased time is due to the time it
takes the cleric to establish a ‘channel’ and to ask the deity to work a particular
spell through them. The only advantage that clerics have over the practitioners
of sorcerous magic is that they will frequently have considerably more spells
available to them. The only restrictions that clerics have on the spells available to
them are only those imposed by the deity (who can be assumed to know all
spells - and then some).
The most important aspects of clerical magic are Channelling and Invocation.
Channelling is a skill required to act as a conduit for a deities spell. Invocation is
the act of requesting the deity to perform the spell.
CHANNELLING
Channelling is the discipline of providing an energy source and focus for the
magical activities of a Warp Entity, usually a deity. It is channelling that allows a
cleric to ‘cast’ spells. The cleric will usually ‘open’ a channel then ask or will his
or her deity to work a spell through them. The energy for the casting is provided
by the channeller. This skill can only be gained by a character with the ‘Warp
Resonance’ advantage. A channel has an associated energy capacity. The energy
capacity is a measure of the maximum amount of energy (fatigue or hits) can be
used by a Warp Entity for working magic. Once a channel is open any number of
spells can be cast through it until the channel is closed. However, the channel
can only support a single spell at a time and the cost of the spell must be less
than or equal to the channel capacity. Clerics refer the capacity of the channel as
the channel’s ‘width’.
The Channelling discipline is divided into three skill levels; Basic, Intermediate,
Advanced. The level used determines how long a channel takes to open and how
difficult it is to open. The table below describes the difference between
Channelling types:
Description Ba Interm Adva
sic ediate nced
Time to open wid width x width
channel th 2 x1
x3
Cost modifier cos cost x cost /
t x 1 2
2
Difficulty 0 -1 -2
Modifier
When a character wants to open a channel he chooses a channel width and then
concentrates for the required time. When the period of concentration has passed
then he rolls against his skill level for that particular Channelling type (including
the difficulty modifier). If successful the channel is opened. Spells channelled
using Basic Channelling use twice as much energy as the base cost. Spells
channelled using Advanced Channelling use half as much energy has the base
cost.
A critical failure always means that the channelling has failed and a point of
fatigue was lost. A critical success reduces the base cost of spells by half. For
example, when a critical success is achieved with Advanced Channelling then
spell costs are reduced by 4.
As with wizards, channelling can draw power from fatigue or hits. However,
clerics have no penalty when using hits.
INVOCATION
Different cults (religions) have different methods of invocation. Some cults prefer
the name ‘prayer’ or ‘mantra’ to the word invocation, which is used by the more
academic cults. Invocations can be used to cast almost any spell the deity allows.
However, the better a characters skill level at invocation the more likely the deity
will be to cast a spell. Deities are more reluctant to cast more the powerful spells
for their clerics.
In order to cast spells a cleric will need to know how to ask for specific spells in a
way the deity can understand. Asking a deity to “fry the short goblin” is unlikely
to elicit a response. The knowledge required to do this is embodied in the skill
Cult Lore. In GURPS-Hammer invocation is implemented as a skill. Each type of
invocation has a level associated with it.
To invoke the will of a deity (cast a spell) a character must first indicate which
spell they wish the deity to cast and then spend 3 seconds concentrating. At the
end of three seconds the character should roll against his Invocation skill level,
including the following modifiers.
If a successful invocation roll was made then the spell will occur at the very start
of the characters next turn.